Int’l Box Office FINAL: ‘Happy New Year’ Uncorks Record Bollywood Bow; ‘Annabelle’ Still A Doll With $26.2M; ‘Lucy’ Outmuscles ‘Hercules’ In China; More

Final UPDATE, Monday, 4:23 PM, PT: Final grosses are in for the following films: Lucy in China, Disney/Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy, Disney Animation’s Big Hero 6 (which bows Nov. 7th in the states), this weekend’s domestic No. 1 and No. 2 openers Ouijaand John Wick. Sony just reported for Fury, Whiplash,The Equalizer, 22 Jump Street. Also reporting areDracula Untold, and As Above, So Below. Warner Bros.’ The Judge and Annabelle, and the Disney’s live action Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, the animated The Boxtrolls, Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Hercules. Fox‘s final grosses have also been reported for The Book Of Life, Gone Girl, The Maze Runner, Ice Age: The Meltdown 3-D (for its second frame in China) and Let’s Be Cops.

While we still don’t have official distributor numbers on Happy New Year, and understand that they will not be communicated by Yash Raj, we do know that the film took $17.6M in India this weekend. That broke records for the biggest opening weekend in Indian cinema history, per producer Red Chillies Entertainment. Added to that, we have an estimate of $2M in North America, and Rentrak’s estimates of $1.41M in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia. That takes the international cume to at least $20.9M, and doesn’t take into account the UAE, the Netherlands, Kuwait and Pakistan. This puts the movie at No. 2 on the offshore charts for the weekend, behind only Annabelle and its estimated $26.5M. It’s curious why Red Chillies appears to be running point on this, rather than having Yash Raj report as it normally does. The film is clearly a hit, even if it may not be breaking records outside India.

2ND UPDATE, MONDAY 1:31 AM PT: Figures below on Happy New Year have been confirmed by Mumbai-based production company Red Chillies Entertainment.

1ST UPDATE, 11:59 PM PT: Official distributor figures have not yet been released for Shah Rukh Khan’s Bollywood heist pic, Happy New Year, which opened in several markets on Friday. However, reports out of India are setting it on its way to all-time blockbuster status there. I’ve confirmed with Yash Raj Films that the Farah Khan-directed action comedy broke the record for an opening day on Friday. According to Bollywood Hungama, it did so with 44.97 crore or $7.35M. Importantly, the site says it had the biggest opening weekend ever, besting 2013’s Dhoom 3 with 108.86 crore ($17.8M) — although it appears to be a tight race given Dhoom‘s 107.61 crore opening last December. It also means Happy New Year passed the coveted 100 crore mark in just three days, on par with Dhoom 3. The score further gives both Shah Rukh Khan and co-star Deepika Padukone their biggest openers ever. Previously for both it was 2013’s Chennai Express. I’ll have full confirmed numbers later on Monday when Yash Raj serves them up. In the meantime, Bollywood Hungama is reporting that Happy New Year sold $806K worth of tickets in overseas markets, although not all of them were accounted for in the site’s breakdown.

In other parts of the world, this weekend did not have much going on in the local picture game. China’s Breakup Buddies added $4.4M to take its total to $173M. (Lucy and Hercules joined Guardians Of The Galaxy in release there this week with the former taking the Middle Kingdom crown on a strong $19M — see earlier report below). Gaumont’s Samba added $4.1M in France for a cume of $12.5M, although it did not maintain the No. 1 position which went instead to The Maze Runner after an 8% jump this frame.

Annabelle was the clear winner for the international weekend with an impressive $26.2M in 62 markets. The horror entry has now made $126.7M to date for a scary good worldwide cume of $206.2M. Brazil is currently the highest-grossing market for this film with $11.2M to date after nabbing another $2.2M in during its second frame. In addition, Mexico opened to $10.9M (which included previews). In one notable turn, Warner Bros. Lebanon tells me that in its 3rd week, the pic crossed the $200,000 mark, making it the biggest horror film ever in the territory. This comes after topping the weekend box office for two frames in a row. Overall, the offshore weekend saw a minimal drop from last with a 13% jump over the same frame in 2013. At that time, Gravity was exerting its pull around the globe while toons Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 and Turbo were bustling.

Next weekend sees the addition of a handful of homegrown films in their own territories and elsewhere. They include Donnie Yen’s Kung Fu Jungle which goes out in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Australia among other markets. Monkey King and Special ID star Yen is currently shooting Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend and is a consistent draw at home. Kung Fu Jungle will face off with The Maze Runner as it begins zig-zagging across the market on Tuesday, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which soups up in China on Friday.

Elsewhere, Spain and parts of Latin America will get [Rec] 4: Apocalypse next week. The horror thriller is helmed by Jaume Balagueró and stars Manuela Velasco in a return after sitting out the third installment of the franchise. Cannes favorite Mr Turner will paint itself into theaters in the UK. Timothy Spall stars in Mike Leigh’s biopic of the famous artist which is drawing awards attention for the lead turn – it won Spall the Best Actor prize in Cannes last May. Also in the UK’s crowded week, another specialty title, Daniel Radcliffe’s Horns, will sprout up; Jake Gyllenhaal in Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler will sign in; and Ouija will spell out its future there. In other expansions, Fury rolls into Russia while Keanu Reeves in John Wick heads to France and Australia; and Nicole Kidman/Colin Firth/Mark Strong thriller Before I Go To Sleep awakens in the fast-burn Russian and Korean markets in what’s been a slow-burn release pattern. The film opens in the U.S. on Halloween Friday. The Boxtrolls visits Spain where the Latin-themed animation should find takers; Dracula Untold will debut in Italy and Japan, and The Expendables 3 is also going to Japan, its last market, after playing the Tokyo Film Festival this week.

The Keanu Reeves actioner John Wick arrived day and date with the U.S. release in 10 international markets to accumulate an early $1.37M tally before rolling out to 22 more markets. Besides the aforementioned France and Australia, it will also bow in Mexico and the Middle East.

PREVIOUS SUNDAY: Of the big openers this weekend internationally, Sony’s Fury was among the most anticipated. Having just made its European premiere at the London Film Festival, the Brad Pitt WWII movie ended up with $11.7M from 2,095 screens in 15 markets. Predictably, the UK was a No. 1 grab with $4.3M from 709 screens. Sony said it was 23% higher than Monuments Men and 7% above Valkyrie. In France, Fury rolled to $2.1M from 415 screens, good for a No. 5 slot and Sony said it was 28% above Captain Phillips. Australia debuted #1 in the market with $2.3M from 336 screens (18% above Captain Phillips and 31% above Valkyrie, the studio said).

Nevertheless, it was a scary doll who had another good weekend overseas. Annabelle grossed an estimated $26.2M off the back of 5.7M admissions from over 7,000 screens in 62 territories. The international cume to date now stands at $126.7M for a worldwide cume of $206.2M. A record-breaking weekend in Mexico scared up the biggest opening ever for a horror film and the best 2D opening of 2014. It grossed $10.9M with 3.2 admissions from 2,746 including previews.

The Warner Bros release also scored the 3rd best opening for the year, behind The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Transformers: Age Of Extinction. It took 59% of the market share and beat all comps. In Argentina, it was notably the movie that unseated local hit Relatos Salvajes (Wild Tales), moving in to the No. 1 slot with $1.2M and 213K admissions from 180 screens. Elsewhere in horror-hungry Latin America, Annabelle set a record for the biggest horror opening in Peru with $1.34M; that’s also Warner Bros’ 2nd biggest opening weekend of all time. Relatos Salvajes‘ cume is now $20.6M. The film will debut this weekend in the states for a qualifying Oscar run before releasing wider next February.

In China, the win this week goes to Luc Besson’s Lucy which bowed in the Middle Kingdom on Oct 24 and was the No. 1 film this weekend. Besson was on hand recently in Beijing to help sell the Scarlett Johanssen-starrer. The film, which was converted to 3D just for the Chinese release took $19M to $20M+ (we are still on Monday working on estimates) to become the biggest French opener ever in the Middle Kingdom. With 40% coming from the Chinese box office, it could very well end up as the biggest French film ever to play out in the country. It was released via Fundamental Films on 6,000 screens with IMAX and 3-D versions included in the count. With Universal’s international territories having all been released, the studio’s own weekend estimate is $470K at 536 dates in 37 territories for a total of $230.7M. Combined with the EuropaCorp territories, the international weekend estimate is $19.5M for a total of $308.5M. That puts the worldwide cume at $435M. This is just following Europa’s closing on a $450M+ credit facility that will go towards English-language productions.

Also in China, in its second weekend of release is Fox’s animated Ice Age: The Meltdown in 3-D, which brought in another $1.37M on 800 screens. It’s cume to date in the Middle Kingdom is $5.55M.

Fox’s Gone Girl, meanwhile, opened in the competitive Korea market this weekend at No. 1 with $3.8M. The overall offshore cume for the frame was $18.8M, taking the total to $118.8M. In holdovers the UK dropped 34% with $2.5M bringing the local total to $27.5M. A marginal 6% drop in France led to $1.8M for the weekend and a cume of $9M. Australia’s weekend haul was $1.9M for a cume to date of $16.9M; and in Germany the lady bagged $1.2M towards a cume of $8.9M. And in its first weekend in Thailand, it pulled in $414K in 170 sites.

Whiplash had its first overseas bow this past weekend, grossing $169M on 49 screens in two territories Down Under. Whiplash is the jazz drama that premiered to great reviews in the states at the Sundance Film Festival prompting Sony to acquire the distribution rights. In Australia, it opened to $151K on 37 screens and in New Zealand, it took in $19K on 12 screens.

Recent Universal release Dracula Untold opened in another four markets this weekend and grossed an estimated $14.9M at a total 6,277 dates in 59 territories. All of the new bows were No. 1s including Brazil ($2.9M, 511 dates); Spain ($1.9M, 312 dates); and Hungary ($225K, 49 dates). It was also the No. 1 film for the second weekend running in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and No. 1 for the third weekend in a row in Bulgaria. With three more markets left to open (Italy, Japan and Venezuela), the international total is $117.7M. Worldwide Dracula Untold has grossed $166M.

The Maze Runner, from Fox, scrambled to a further $12.8M this weekend lifting its cume to $179.4M. The only new opening was in Finland where it was No. 1 with $267K. In France, TMR jumped 8% to nab the No. 1 slot in a week that saw the continued release of Samba, the follow-up to global hit The Intouchabes. An amazing Maze Runner haul of $5.2M brought the French cume to $12.5M – worth noting this movie is being marketed to the hilt here on radio and elsewhere and we are in full throttle school holidays. Germany had a small decrease of 13% with $1.5M and a cume of $3.9M. The UK also had a good hold with $1.4M and a cume of $9.4M. There are three markets yet to release including China on Halloween and Japan next year.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles held well across Europe with a total weekend of a better than expected $11.1M from 2,661 locations in 32 territories. The Jonathan Liebesman-helmed pic has crossed the $200M mark with an offshore cume of $202.2M. In France, the Paramount Turtles were off 11% from the opening with $3.5M at 565 locations. The total in the market is $9.5M. The UK added $3.1M on its 2nd weekend from 522 sites for a cume of $12.7M. The Ninjas on the half shell continue to perform in Germany with a 2nd straight No. 1 and $2M from 539 locales. In its sophomore frame in Spain, the turtles was down 55% to kick in $661K on 327 runs for a total cume now of $2.4M. The total there is $6.5M. The Turtles sidle up to China on October 31, followed by Japan on Feb 7.

Guardians Of The Galaxy is still playing in China as other U.S. movies start to seep in. It earned another $8.9M in the Middle Kingdom this weekend to take its estimated cume there now to $86.8M. It also opened in its final international territory, Italy, where it grossed $3.4M. That was good for No. 1 and is 29% above Captain America: The First Avenger, 8% above X-Men: Days Of Future Past and 13% below Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This week/weekend GOTG passed the lifetime gross of X-Men: Days Of Future Past which makes it 3rd highest grossing film of 2014 globally, behind Transformers: Age Of Extinction and Maleficent. The current global cume is $754.8M. Of that, $426.1M is international after taking in another $12.4M this weekend.

Paramount’s Hercules was the other big film in China this week, having opened on the 21st. It delivered a $9.6M opening weekend from approximately 4,700 sites. The Dwayne Johnson-starrer also opened in Japan where it was the top foreign film to enter the market with $1.3M at 337 locations. The international cume is now $165.5M.

The Fox-released The Book Of Life earned a better than estimated $8.2M final gross, bringing its cume to $18.4M. Mexico kept things alive earning $2.5M taking its cume to $6.9M on 1,519 runs. The UK opened at No. 4 with $1.5M at 850 locations. The animated feature also bowed in France to $1M on 318 runs. In its second weekend in Brazil, the Jorge Guiterrez-directed/Guillermo del Toro produced film grossed $907K on 518 runs to bring its cume in the territory up to $3.1M. All told in Spanish-speaking countries (which includes the aforementioned Brazil gross), this weekend’s take for the film was $4.96M.

Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall did a bit better than expected, adding an impressive $7.1M to the docket this weekend with nearly 1.1M admissions from 3,883 screens in 47 markets. The international cume for The Judge is now $19.3M. Italy debuted higher than expected from 282 screens with $1.2M; Mexico also opened better than anticipated with $842K from 384 screens; France took $493K on 183 screens; Spain was worth $346k from 206 screens and Greece ended up at No. 1 with gave $191k from 45 screens. In holdovers, Russia added $1M for a $3.3M cume (impressive for a straight drama in the market); Taiwan held better than expected to add $548K for a $1.5M to-date total and Brazil grossed an estimated $438K for a cume of $1.4M. Other key markets include Australia (which has a cume of $2.35M after three weeks), the UK ($1.3M after two weeks) and Germany ($320K after two weekends).

Sony’s The Equalizer grossed an estimated $5.3M from 70 territories this weekend on 2,598 screens push Sony’s cume $70.3M. Adding in the Village Roadshow territories, the cume is now $77.4M. Japan opened with $721K from 183 screens. That’s a No. 3 debut which Sony says is nevertheless 76% bigger than the bow of 2 Guns and on par with Safe House. Germany fell 21% in its 3rd frame, grossing $1.2M for a cume of $6.3M.

Disney Animation Studios’ Big Hero 6 opened the Tokyo Film Festival last week and has now been released in Russia, two weeks ahead of the U.S., in order to take advantage of two weeks of school holidays starting there. The story of the special bond that develops between inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada, bowed on Saturday and the estimated two day cume is $4.8M ($5M including Ukraine). Disney puts that 63% above Wreck-It Ralph, 30% above Monsters University and on par with Tangled.

Boxtrolls added $4M at 3,595 dates in 43 territories and raised its international total to $41.8M. Germany opened with $326K at 540 dates and is likely to benefit from the continued school holidays, and the same is true for France and the Netherlands. In fact, France saw a 54% rise in the box office and The Netherlands enjoyed a 53% increase. Notable is that in the UAE, the family film opened with $222K at 52 dates – the biggest Laika opener ever in the market. The UK, where the film has found much favor, now has a cume of $12.4M, passing the lifetime of Coraline. In the Ukraine, the animated pic opened to No. 3 with $188K at 122 dates while Austria opened to $88K at 79 dates. There are 11 more markets to release with three more coming next weekend, including Spain.

Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day opened in the UK, Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, Trinidad and Uruguay this weekend. The international take was $2.8M. In the UK, the Steve Carell family pic earned $1M with school holidays afoot. Mexico remains the strongest ex-U.S. market at $3.7M. The total international cume is $11.4M.

Universal’s Ouija moved into five territories outside the U.S. this weekend and grossed $1.39M at 239 dates in Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Poland and Slovenia. In Malaysia, it was No. 2 with $529K at 62 dates. Taiwan opened No. 3 with $439K at 63 dates; Singapore had a No. 2 bow with $268K at 14 dates; and Poland opened to $140K at 90 dates for a No. 4 berth. Next weekend, the horror film will open in (lucky number) 13 territories including the UK and Ireland.

Richard Linklater’s Boyhood grossed $729K at 442 dates in 17 Universal territories and raised the Universal international total to $16.4M. In Korea, it placed No. 7 with the 3rd highest per-screen average of the Top 10 factored out of $368K at 178 dates. In Italy, the coming of age drama opened to $180K at 108 dates. There are 13 more markets yet to open with next weekend seeing the debut in Brazil and Argentina.

NOTEWORTHIES: Fox’s buddy cop comedy Let’s Be Cops opened in Spain this weekend to $383K in 178 runs. It’s still playing in 24 territories to gross $1.77M this weekend and has logged a total cume of $35.6M.

As Above, So Below opened in two more markets this weekend with three more yet to open in Latin America on Nov. 13 (including Brazil). Its total cume is now $18.9M.

The Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill buddy comedy22 Jump Street is still playing in 15 markets and is now has a total cume of $138.3M. It was off onlyh 25% in its second weekend in Venezuela which has taken in $1.3M so far. Sony’s other summer comedy offering Sex Tape (which stars Cameron Diaz) logs in with a total cume of $86.7M.